Celebrated as a “painter of light”, Joseph Raymond Wintz (1884-1956) enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest artists working in France in the early twentieth century. Wintz’ skill and complete command of his palette set him aside from his contemporaries. He gained a firm appreciation by critics and collectors as a leading painter of the Brittany coastline and was renowned for his charming window and balcony scenes bathed in sunshine which perfectly embody memories of holidays by the coast. Wintz was born in Paris in 1884. His father, Guillaume Wintz (1823-1899), was a successful painter who specialized in idyllic rural scenes of peasant maids and livestock, expertly depicted within the landscape. Wintz’ talent as a painter was evident at a young age and he studied in Paris at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and the École des Beaux-Arts under two leading artists; Jules Adler (1865-1952), a naturalist master painter, and Gabriel Ferrier (1847-1914), a renowned portrait painter and orientalist, both of whose work can be seen in notable museums including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Following his education, Wintz rejected the academic styles of his father and professors and like many of his contemporaries, decided to pursue his passion for painting outdoors ‘en plein air’ in the manner of the Impressionists. This technique demanded a free and spontaneous style of painting in order to catch the rapid changes in outdoor light. Wintz’ skill allowed him to extract the colours and shapes as well as the fragrances of nature, putting the total ambiance and experience directly onto the canvas. In a few swift brushstrokes Wintz captured the very essence of Breton life. As a young man Wintz had a brilliant military career before he became a key figure in the Parisian artistic circles of the early twentieth century. Wintz divided his time between Paris and Brittany, occasionally travelling further afield to coastal towns such as Saint Tropez in the South of France. He lived in Montparnasse, an area in the south of Paris that was famed for its Breton restaurants, lively café culture and avant-garde inhabitants including Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau and Ernest Hemmingway. In the first half of the twentieth century, Paris’ artistic circles migrated to Montparnasse from Montmartre and it quickly became the intellectual breeding ground for the next generation of artists and writers. Since the opening of the railway line from Montparnasse to Quimper in the Finistère department of northern Brittany in 1862, artists had flocked to the picturesque region, attracted to its rugged coastline, charming villages and the unique Breton peasant culture. Pont-Aven became a celebrated artistic commune towards the end of the nineteenth century, with Paul Gauguin as one of its leading practitioners, enticing fellow Post-Impressionist artists to the area. Wintz was drawn to this cultural and artistic hub and his proximity to the Gare Montparnasse in Paris allowed him to spend a great deal of time sketching and painting ‘en plein air’ in Brittany. Drawn to the beauty of the Brittany landscape and the unique quality of light, Wintz delighted in the picturesque coastal landscape of the region, particularly in the Finistère department; there he would capture idyllic seascapes and charming river estuaries bathed in sunshine. Brightly coloured fishing boats and dinghies sway in the gentle breeze, waves rippling around their hulls, whilst the local Breton fishermen and bigoudènes in traditional dress mend fishing nets and go about their everyday business. Wintz’ landscapes and seaside scenes of humble Breton village folk transport the viewer into this unspoilt and cherished environment. Amongst Wintz’ most popular subjects are his delicately posed window and balcony scenes which allowed the artist to combine an interior and exterior setting within a single composition. This motif dates back to Renaissance traditions but was brought to the forefront of the twentieth century artistic imagination by Henri Matisse. Matisse exploited the window’s intrinsic duality - at once an opening and a barrier - to generate a tension between illusionistic depth and modernist flatness. Wintz’ interiors are simplistic, and he focuses the attention on the window or doorframe by placing a vase of vibrantly coloured flowers on a table or a windowsill providing a focus to the view beyond. Outside, boats sway in the quiet fishing ports and brightly coloured sails appear far out to sea on the horizon as Breton figures pass by bathed in the warm sunshine of a summer’s day. The delicate balance between the interior and exterior of these charming paintings celebrate, with arresting spontaneity, the warmth and brilliance of a Breton ‘room with a view’. Gladwell & Patterson’s history with this distinguished artist began after the Second World War. Herbert Fuller of Gladwell & Company, London, discovered the landscapes of Raymond Wintz during the pinnacle of the artists career, when he was recognized for his importance to the artistic milieu of mid-century art and was elected as President of the Jury of the Paris Salon in 1953. Since he first set eyes on Wintz’ landscapes in Paris, Herbert Fuller, and the two subsequent generations of the Fuller family of Gladwell & Patterson have continued to share the legacy of this great artist. From 1951 to the present day, our galleries historic archives reveal the unfaltering demand for Wintz’ exquisite Brittany landscapes and window scenes. The gallery has both an outstanding library of his work and a highly cultivated knowledge of his practice. Wintz began to exhibit at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1910, becoming a member the following year. Collectors and critics admired his brightly coloured Brittany landscapes and Wintz received accolades of the highest merit, including the Silver Medal from the Salon in 1922 and both the Gold Medal at the Salon and the Corot Prize in 1924. His contribution to the arts was further formalized in 1934 when Wintz became a professor at the progressive Académie Julian and the artist was awarded the highest distinctions that his country could bestow; Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour. Wintz accrued such phenomenal success during his career that his exquisite landscapes and charming window and balcony scenes were widely reproduced during his lifetime in the form of high quality prints. His work was reproduced in the weekly French newspaper “L’Illustration” and postcards of his work were also sold. In 1962 Frost & Reed published “The Homelovers Art Review” which reproduced several of prints of Wintz’ Brittany landscapes and interiors. Wintz’ luminous landscapes and vibrant costal scenes are housed in important private and museum collections around the world, such as the Musée Tattegrain in Paris, Le Petit-Palais in Paris and museums in Reims, Laon, Colmar, Montreal, Montevideo and Glasgow. During his lifetime Wintz also had immensely successful exhibitions in Paris, Bristol, Nantes, Remis and Roubaix. Wintz’ Awards and Honours Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour President of the Salon President of the Société des Artistes Français. President of the Jury of the Salon 1911, Elected Member of the Paris Salon 1922, Silver Medal, Paris Salon 1924, Gold Medal, Paris Salon/Academy 1924, Elected an Officer of the Paris Salon 1924, Awarded the Corot Prize 1934, Elected Professor of the Academy Julien